The Pressure of Refereeing Two Undefeated Teams - Referee Match Day Vlog #25

he fouled several times after his yellow so second yellow for constant infringments

hey Eric, I am a new linesman in Australia I am just starting haven't sidelined before do you have any tips for me?

As long as you can manage a conversation with the coaches without showing YC, you should do so. Of course, the second time you come out there, it should be to present a card.

Really interesting debate on whether to set a high or low bar for fouls when you expect a game to be hotly contested. I have tended to set the bar low early on (low for the amount of physical I'll accept before a free kick, but not low for YCs so as not to box myself in) to try and avoid escalation. Will think more about this after this video.

If you don’t mind me asking I’m in the USA it must suck to have club volunteers as AR’s I would feel like I would be having to do double the work. Having two ARs that know what they are doing just relives so much for the center

25:14 Couldn’t you give a yellow for delaying the restart of play, or is that only for dead ball scenarios?

At 32:27, I have a question. Yes, his foot goes over the ball, but not into the blue player, but in fact his foot is moving away from the blue player. The blue player is coming in at more than 90 degrees to the direction of red's challenge. So what element would make this dangerous play? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I do want to understand.

28:20 After everything 9 did, interfering with the keeper could be viewed as unsporting. I would have given a second yellow.

It's good to see that you're not just cautioning every time you have an opportunity to. In my experience as a player it can make a game much less fun if you have to fear the yellow card for everything you do. As a referee I still need to get better at this but the examples you showed where you talked to the coach or the captain and it improved their behaviour better than a card might have, are very helpful.

However, I think it's not unreasonable that if you just got a yellow for persistent infringement, and you keep committing fouls, you get another yellow quicker. You have had ample warning and are clearly not going to stop. I don't entirely agree with the idea that a yellow card completely resets the count.

For example, take the penalty kick: if the goalkeeper gets off his line before the kick is taken to save it, then the laws say that this is a warning the first time it happens. For *any subsequent offence(s) in the game*, the goalkeeper is cautioned. So this is an example in the law where a caution does not reset the counter, and I think you can also apply this philosophy to persistent infringement.

11:03 It is good to stop play when there is a serious injury, but I think it has to be serious. The fact that you did not immediately stop play for that injury shows that it wasn't that serious and treatment can wait, so then it can also wait a little longer for the other team to start attacking as well. Unless there is an immediate obvious goalscoring opportunity I usually stop play right away if it's actually serious.

For me, a ball in the nuts or ball hard to the face is an immediate stop….because as I say at the time, we’ve all experienced it and it is not pleasant….one or two comment from time to time, but 99.9% fully understand and chuckle when I say this as they know where I’m coming from……technically it could be argued both are “serious”, but that aside just from a “spirit of football” perspective, it works for me….

Love the content. Love the insight. One request, can you not record an intro whilst driving? Doesn’t seem the most sensible way to do it. Just an observation

Hi buddy be very vocal all game... running commentary, phrases like, arms down, can you play it, ball only guys, nothing wrong there, keep playing etc etc

Hi Eric,

I think Red 9 got very lucky today. For me the blocking the keepers kick is foul number 5 and would have been a second yellow card and a red card for me. All for keeping players on the pitch but Red 9 took liberties

16:20 - Yellow Cards are Game Management Tools. If you can manage the game with your mouth, there is no need for a yellow. Had the bench kept appealing for foul throws after you explained it, then sure, give a yellow for Dissent. But there's no need for a yellow here. Great job.

Great honesty as always. Question - when do you let players come back onto the pitch after treatment. I watch National League. In a match two players got injured at the same time. It was, clash of heads, both running towards a ball. Both got treatment, both leave the pitch, in this case on opposite touchlines. Ref waves their player on, then they have a decent attack on our goal while we are down to ten men. Until finally our player is allowed to re-enter play. What governs the refs actions?

At the 25ish minute mark when you quote the Laws of the game with, "prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from the hands or kicks or attempts to kick the ball when the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing it" I personally believe the actions of #9 at this point were reckless. His actions just stopped the ball from carrying further after actually being released. The keeper and/or #9 could have been injured easily at the punting of the ball. Unsporting behavior and/or SPA could apply here as often a goalkeeper release is seen as the start of a promising attack at some levels of play. Hard to say here on that one because we can't see the other end of the field from the camera view.



Of note on this situation are the FAQs for 2025/26 about the new 8 second countdown:

An attacker prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from the hands, causing the goalkeeper to hold the ball for more than eight seconds. What is the correct decision?

Unless the advantage can be played, the referee stops play and awards the goalkeeper’s team:

a direct free kick – if the attacker touched the goalkeeper

an indirect free kick – if no contact is made

The attacker is not cautioned, UNLESS the referee judges that their offence was reckless or stopped/interfered with a promising attack (yellow card).

31:15 I think you're right to let this go or call it. Red player gets in first and gets ball: that's the case for "fair". His tackle is uncontrolled and as a result, his follow-through sweeps the blue player's leg: that's the case for "foul". Nowhere near SFP for me since the studs were pointed WELL away from the other player. You could go foul or foul+YC if you wanted for game management, but as you noted, I don't think they wanted it necessarily. Where I think intervention was needed was in the aftermath. The red player makes some questionable attempts at poking the ball out, could call this careless. Once the blue player puts his body on the ball, it's dangerous play immediately. No player can safely play the ball now and he's endangered his own safety. So three opportunities to call an offense... you wouldn't be wrong for calling any of them, but I think it's an error from a game management standpoint to not call any.

Handball question - If the ball hits his armpit, that's not handball, right? The part of the arm covered by the shirt is fair play. Are there any other clues you use to ensure the ball hit the arm?

Also, why not consult with your AR in instances where your attention is drawn away?

I reckon the number 9 owes you a pint, Eric!

Mush. Please don't be filming yourself when you're driving the car. Please please please.

I run the line regularly for my lad’s u16 games. It makes a massive difference to me when the ref comes to speak to me before hand and is clear what he wants me to call. Always hard when I see an infringement that the ref misses but I am not allowed to flag it.

11:05 there's a world of difference between red passing it around opponents box and blue GK holding the ball. You were spot on here, don't let incorrect complaints get to you!

16:20 this is the rule of thumb *when you have neutral assistants*. Senior AR should be handling everything that isn't card-worthy. Ref gets involved when escalation is needed, or the rare occasion where AR isn't able.

Without the neutral assistants, that doesn't apply. You have to do everything, and it's perfectly reasonable to try and manage the benches proactively.

27:00 I disagree that a kick from hands cannot be SPA - blocking a quick break absolutely could be, just not in this situation. I really didn't like the 4th challenge from 9 and think I might have gone straight to a final warning there and so would send the 9 off for the block. But given you didn't see it that badly, I think final warning where you gave it is appropriate.

Great demo of using the quiet word - when you get a receptive captain, it's a game changer. Really like the extra touches with the editing to highlight your view and player movement as well!

Thanks so much for this video, I referee amatuer in Scotland, you taught me a valuable lesson today, the fact I've been involved for alot of years now I'm not proud this is the 1st of myself learning this lesson though so glad I have because this season I've gave a few foul throws for some of the boot being on the park but still touching the line. I'd no idea this was allowed, luckily we're only a few matches into the season and now sorted. I watched a couple of videos on throws after your video to correct myself plus make sure you were correct. Loving your videos even though a few things in the Scottish amatuer game is different, no team assistant and sin bins. Love to try learn

Some great reffing there, I will offer a little alternative to the tackle you were deliberating at 32:28
2nd half so some fatigue has set in by now, you are correct in saying he wasnt in control as to why his foot went over the top of the ball. Proximity wise - where you have out the two lines as potential better viewpoints, I'd say if you were 6 yards nearer to the action there (and I know its nominal distance) along the angle of the dashed line you put up, I think that may have offered a better viewpoint. Only 6 yards nearer but I personally feel you were a little too centrally positioned. Offering this as a helping alternative- I dont even ref lol but my two boys do and I'm watching to educate myself better and so to pass on a shared knowledge of the situations they may face in future games.
Well done for a great video! First one ive seen and I found it very open, honest and you have the right attributes to be a great ref.
Another subscriber earned 👍

#9 blocking the GK shot. This guy was trouble all game long. Could have given a concussion with that elbow to the back of the head earlier. That second yellow and red would have been weeeeell deserved. That can be easily a YC for either delaying the game or SPA. if the GK want to do a quick counter-attack, he blocked a long kick that could have resulted in a quick counter attack. Personally, Always a YC for me since there is no reason at all for you to be there and do such a stupid thing. Stupid action have consequences.

If a game starts like this one did then I'm going to call every little foul until things cool down; if they don't cool down then it's talk-to-the-captains time. 8:59 also, you can't be off side from a goal kick (I still can't believe club AR's are allowed to call offsides).

In my opinion when I approach the bench to explain a call I do not show a card. I give them an explanation, they do not get a discussion. If they feel the need to have a discussion they get a yellow. Keep up the amazing content, I have share your videos with all the officials in my chapter for real time education.

The statement "it can't be a promising attack when the goalkeeper has the ball" is not true 100% of the time, but it is more likely to be true than not.

I think that if you had a fourth official who would have explained that the throw-ins were valid, and then you had to go over, sure, a yellow card for the bench, but without that fourth official, I would explain it just as you did, and then issue a yellow only if it continued.

I don't think that there is any need to show a card at the bench since they weren't disrespectful, but simply wasn't aware of the specifics regarding the rules about throw ins and foot placement. That was really well managed in my opinion, and as a coach I would have appreciated the learning opportunity.

I think you were right about the sidelines stuff. They had a particular complaint about one thing, you corrected their misunderstanding and they apparently took it on board. If they had been more generally complaining about various decisions, then immediate yellow, but in this case you did right by giving yourself room to escalate.
#9 for me should have gone. He's already on a yellow and another foul. He's just being a bit of a dickhead frankly and to me it seems like in that moment he's just being unsportsmanlike. It's the icing on a cake of bad behaviour and he got off lightly in my opinion.

Hi, a tip to improve your position at kick off. Try to position on the "side" where the AR is, so that when they kick off you can move forward and directly able to see the AR on the other half

Did you think of issuing a yellow to the blue coach at 28:00 for dissent? He’s clearly yelling abuse at you.

Regarding failing to allow the goalkeeper to release the ball, one thing you CAN consider for caution in this scenario is SPA. If the quick direct ball is on and is blocked, that could be considered a tactical foul. Not always, but just make sure you’re considering that.

Regarding getting stuck in the player’s way right before the handball, have a look at your movement before the corner kick, it seems you were a little narrow when the kick was taken, and you were walking or a bit too static. I would prefer to be wider so that I can have a better diagonal view into the PA and so that I am not in the way of a clearance or follow up shot from the attacking team.

Great job on this game, you did really well! These kind of matches with lower skill but fast players on uneven pitches can be really challenging especially when there is a lot of ego and testosterone out there and you’re on your own. Thanks for the great refereeing content!

Could you not give a yellow for delaying the restart when the red #9 blocks the keeper’s punt?

Eric, your instincts are really good. Just like a couple of weeks ago, positioning and moving for angle of view are key. I would suggest for a kick off to already be in the attacking half because that is where play is most likely going. If the team kicking off plays it back, there’s not going to be an immediate challenge. Great work as always.

When I was a keeper and a referee it was explained to me to always give a yellow for blocking the keepers kick as its nearly impossible to do it truly safely. If you jump with your back turned it could easily hit you in the back of the head causing a concussion. Perhaps this is a better rule of thumb for younger ages to prevent this behavior, but at this level I'd argue that you could give a yellow for unsporting as no one in there right mind think that is a "legitimate" or legal play.

32:00 is a good one. I had one like this yesterday. I blew the whistle and called it against the player burying the ball. Of course she wasn’t happy. No foul occurred prior to this, at least from what I saw. But players said, oh she got pushed. Yea, maybe I missed that. Anyways, it was at the halfway line. On we go.

Goal keepers union coming in for that yellow card 😉😂

Great content as always.

Busy game! Well done on excellent game management (including the coach about throw ins and with the red captain after the 2nd goal - a good development).

Agree with the majority of decisions (and self correction of dangerous play for the high boot v head). Loved the honest reaction to the bad throw in decision, but agree with the no foul for the 2 high boots. And defo no penalty for handball.

1st time disagreeing.... 9 should have been gone for deliberately blocking the goal kick. Wouldn't it be the same deliberately blocking a free kick that seems to automatically get a yellow?

The way you word "giving soft fouls early" makes it sound like you are deliberately being inconsistent between games. That's very frustrating for teams/managers e.g. imagine in a few weeks you are covering a match between 1 of these teams and club at the wrong end of the table and you start giving soft fouls.

I would rather a ref be approachable and reasonable than officious personally.

11:30 - 12:00 -- I THINK THIS WAS EXACTLY RIGHT. You saw what happened and made the judgment to play advantage. However, the injury could have been more serious than you first thought, so blowing the whistle immediately after possession switched was the "Player safety" thing to do. Full marks from me. BTW, I love your introspective self-honesty.

16:30 re: auto YC when going to bench:

Cards are a tool, just like verbal warnings / discussions / gestures. If used incorrectly (bad timing, erroneously, etc.) it can degrade the state of game management and player behavior. I think you handled this case perfectly, and would be careful when dealing in absolutes. If you were to show a card for something like this, it could really fire up a team or player in the opposite direction you want. In this case, talking to the bench is the way to go, and if they do it again its a simple YC and you won't get much pushback. It would be one thing if the team was doing it in a much more disruptive way, but just from what you shared I think this was perfectly fine.